


Knights & Maidens

by SilentMachina



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Developing Friendships, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:42:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29843079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentMachina/pseuds/SilentMachina
Summary: When Ingrid offers Ashe support in a time of grief, they become fast friends.  Neither of them quite expect what they have in store.(Ingrid/trans girl Ashe oneshot)
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Ingrid Brandl Galatea
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	Knights & Maidens

I sat in the library, staring at a closed book, wallowing in grief. I felt confused, and lost, and angry. The man who had shown me mercy, taken me in, treated me as his own son... He had roused a futile rebellion, at the cost of lives. He had thrown away the people he had a duty to protect. And now he was dead, slain by the Knights of Seiros, like the son he tried to avenge. Now I had lost a brother, a father, and my faith. The noble knights I had admired were gone, stained.

If that was what awaited me here at the officers’ academy, why should I bother? I’d have been nobler had I stayed a thief in the streets.

“Ashe?” said a voice I recognized. Ingrid, from my class. “Professor Byleth told me you could probably use someone to talk to. I’m… not sure why she told  _ me _ , though.”

Professor Byleth and her class had been there when Lonato died. I had asked her about it, and she had told me plainly. And apparently took pity on me. She was strangely compassionate in her bluntness, and had a way of seeing through people.

I had a strong suspicion why she may have sent Ingrid my way. She was level-headed, well-read, selfless, could hold her own against any of the men in our class, and out of all our peers I think she had the strongest sense of of—

“Chivalry.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. I appreciate the company, though.”

Ingrid took a seat across the table from me. I’d never be so rude as to say it out loud, but with her bearing and neatly tied hair, in the uniform of the officers’ academy, she looked more princely than His Highness did on his best day.

“ _ Loog and the Maiden of Wind _ , huh? That’s my favorite book, actually,” she said. My heart ached.

“Mine too. It was the first book I ever read, you know? Lonato caught me stealing it from his manor and instead of locking me up he took me in. He always seemed like Loog to me, the gold standard of chivalry. Until now.”

She sighed, and her shoulders drooped. This was a side of her I had never seen in our acquaintance as classmates.

“I can’t begin to know the grief you’re feeling now, but… It’s hard, isn’t it? When things aren’t as you dreamed.”

I nodded. I wondered what her story was.

“What brought you to the academy?” I asked. She tapped a finger on the book between us.

“I wanted to be a knight like in the tales. The ones who protect the weak, slay the wicked, rescue fair maidens, all that.”

She looked me right in the eye when she said ‘rescue fair maidens.’ Just happenstance, of course. Nothing to read into. Why did it make me feel odd?

“Of course,” she continued, “I have obligations. For my family’s sake. But being here, I feel like I can at least have some part of that ideal.”

In that moment I wondered if she perhaps  _ had _ stepped out of an old tale. Chivalry had died, yet here it was, just across the table. Like I said, Professor Byleth had a way of seeing through people.

* * *

I started making an effort to talk and spend time with Ashe. He was sweet, and we had interests in common, and he needed a friend. And as I got to know him, I started to think maybe I had needed a friend like him too.

He was still grieving, but I noticed him brightening back up, little by little.

We even began to collaborate in class, and though his focus had been archery, he started asking for advice on lancework. So I gave him some pointers, and told him he should ask Professor Hanneman about picking it up officially. It was refreshing to pass on what I knew, and to spar with someone I hadn’t known since I was five.

He took to it quickly, and his enthusiasm was catching. Exercises that had long since become dull routines were… sort of fun again. I found myself forgetting my looming duty at times, enjoying myself more often. I found I wanted to get the most out of my time at the academy.

“So I’ve been considering asking to change classes,” I mentioned to Ashe one day in the dining hall, “and I wondered what you would think about the idea. Professor Byleth has so much practical experience, and Dorothea says she’s worked wonders for some of them over there.”

Ashe had that soft smile of his, on that soft face. And had he let his hair grow a little longer? Goddess, he was completely adorable. And so kind and gentle. I thought to myself,  _ Marrying for my family’s sake might not be such a burden if it could be someone like him _ .

“I’ve actually been going to her for help outside of class for a couple of months now,” he said. “If you join her class, I may have to do the same. Otherwise I may never catch up to you.”

* * *

Professor Byleth’s class was different, though not in a bad way. Professor Hanneman was a good teacher, but he was foremost a mage and a scholar. Byleth may have been hardly older than us, but she was a seasoned mercenary, and it showed in her combat and tactical instruction.

Ingrid and I quickly discovered just how exacting both the classroom and the training hall could be, yet the professor never let anyone fall behind. She made time to personally advise anyone she noticed struggling, and she noticed everything. I wondered if she noticed something was nagging at me recently.

A few weeks after transferring, the professor waved me over after class.

“Professor?”

“You’ve really taken to the lance, and haven’t let your archery slip,” she said, not looking up from her desk. “Are you considering taking up riding?”

“I had thought about it, though it’s intimidating…”

She finally looked up at me, and I felt transparent.

“It would be a lot of work, but you’d do well as a mounted archer. You and Ingrid work well together; I think she could help get you started with the horses or pegasi. If you want, I could put you on stable duty with her.”

She was offering me a choice?

“Sure Professor, I can at least try it.”

She nodded and wrote me in on the duty roster. Was she smiling faintly?

If that were all, I could probably go. Yet I hadn’t moved. And the professor hadn’t waved me away.

“Is there anything else I can help you with, Ashe?” She didn’t say it impatiently. Come to think of it I had never seen her lose patience.

There was something. It may have been a question for Professor Manuela as the academy’s primary medical mage, but Professor Byleth had a reputation for, well, discreetness.

“Have you ever heard of, um— Say someone like me began to wonder if he was meant to be a woman…”

I tripped over my words, unsure how to describe the feeling. The professor simply nodded an affirmative.

“In fact I have.” Her voice was as calm as ever, no shock, no confusion. “There are a few of us here. Do you have time for tea later? I'll try talking you through it. And I can re-introduce you to some classmates later if you like.”

_ Us _ , she had said.

* * *

Something was different about Ashe lately. There was more spring in his step, and I noticed him talking to our classmates more often. I didn’t know what had cheered him up, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t our riding lessons. The horses always gave him a hard time and the pegasi just wanted special treatment.

Currently we were in the greenhouses, where he could tend some beds of herbs and vegetables even now, with winter creeping in. He was down on hands and knees pruning, and I was doing my best not to stare. Was it my imagination or did his uniform fit better than before?

“If you keep on keeping me company here I might just start cooking for you,” he said.

“Don’t you threaten me with a good time Ashe Ubert.” I tried to sound serious, but couldn’t keep from laughing a little.

He stood up and brushed himself off.

“There’s a recipe Bernadetta showed me that I’ve been meaning to try tonight; you’re welcome to some of the results.”

“S-sure, thank you.”

I wondered if he noticed how red my face was.

* * *

It was strange, to discover my old daydreams weren’t entirely idle fancy.

When the professor had made the ‘introductions’ she had promised, I was surprised just how many of my classmates had already reinvented themselves.

Caspar had clapped me on the back and said “Have fun! Hope it suits you better than it did me!”

Bernadetta had squeaked some congratulations and offered to adjust my uniforms. (“Not necessarily related, I just like to keep busy.” I had forgotten how comfortable clothes could be when they didn’t hang off me.)

Mercedes had seemed thrilled. She had asked if I had any questions, and was all too happy to answer them.

Since then, things were actually going fairly well for me. I had some concerns about the future, but Professor Byleth assured me I had people on my side.

As of a couple of months ago, I regularly visited Professor Manuela for some white magic treatments I hadn’t even known existed. I didn’t look much different yet, but I felt different.

I was starting to get compliments on my hair, too, and not just from people who knew the reason I had let it grow.

"You know, Ashe, if you want to get some new clothes, I could enlist Annie to take you on a shopping trip," said Mercedes one day. "She knows which tailors can be trusted, and you would already cut a fine figure. Just be warned that she may try to talk you into learning makeup."

That sounded like Annette, all right. Still…

"I think I'd enjoy that. I'm worried what people will think, though."

"Of course. That doesn't mean it isn't worth it, though. And you're not alone." She laughed softly. "Annie is younger and smaller than me, but she got into so many fights on my behalf back at the school of magic."

I sighed.

"Thank you, Mercedes. I'm worried about Ingrid, though. She's my best friend here, and I admire her a lot."

"Well, if she's half as noble as she seems she'll be fine. It's clear you're important to her too. And if you're worried about your chances, well... If Dorothea is right, that may work out too."

"Chances?"

"Oh, forget I said anything."

* * *

The happier Ashe got, the more insufferably sweet and handsome he got. I was on the verge of starting to court him, duty be damned. Father wouldn't force me, and maybe we could try to find another solution to our troubles...  


So naturally a letter came about another suitor. I was not impressed, as usual. Another one that would be a blight on our estate. I quickly penned a response to let father know, and saddled a horse to ride to town and hire a courier.

As I rode through the streets, I heard a clamor from an alleyway. I turned down it to see two familiar-looking girls surrounded by several ruffians.

One, a redhead, I could immediately recognize as Annette from the academy, holding half the men at bay easily with gouts of flame from her hands.

The other I couldn’t quite place, a handsome girl with sandy brown hair down to her neck, and naught but a dagger to defend herself.

My lance lay in the armory, weapons of war being unwelcome in town, but I had a saber and a horse.

“Leave them be!” I called out, to draw their attention. Annette seized the opportunity to set four men’s trousers ablaze. The rest were now focused on me instead of the other girl. She made short work of one with a pommel to the back of the head. The alley was a bit narrow for mounted combat, but thankfully the remaining men wisely turned tail and fled.

Once all three of us were safely in the open street, I dismounted and tied the reins to a nearby hitching post.

“Thanks Ingrid,” said Annette. “I was starting to get too worn out to cast.”

“What happened?” I asked. “It’s unlike you to be overwhelmed like that.”

“It’s my fault,” said the other girl, clutching the strap of a carrying bag.

I knew that voice. And now that I was near, I knew her face, too.

“Ashe?”

“Hi, Ingrid. Thanks for, um, rescuing this maiden…”

Ashe was bright red in the face now. And wearing a dress: practically cut, but prettily embroidered. And very, very cute? I could feel my cheeks coloring as well.

“I have no idea what’s happening anymore,” I said.

“Oh my gosh, you two really are adorable, just like Mercie said,” Annette blurted out.

There was a lot to talk about. The courier could wait for another day.

* * *

We sat in an empty classroom.

“So you’re a woman?” Ingrid asked. I nodded. “How did I miss that?”

“In fairness, it was news to me as well.” She looked lost. “It’s something I chose. Professor Byleth can probably explain better.”

She didn’t seem any less confused, but didn’t seem angry either.

“No, that’s… It’s new, but I don’t see anything wrong with the idea. I just— I have a confession too.”

Silence.

“A confession?”

She took a deep breath.

“I’ve been wanting to court you.” Her words ran together in haste.

“Oh. And now?”

“That’s the part that’s surprising me so much. I definitely think I still do.”

**Author's Note:**

> This one just swept me up once I started it. Who knows, I may find myself with more FE3H oneshots on my hands from time to time.


End file.
